After a few minutes of walking, the have finally reached Lumawig’s house, accompanied by some policemen. Along the way however, Empoy’s father could not help but throw up as he was not used to seeing corpses this way, much more, mangled ones. Even SPO4 Lamitan who appeared to be stoic despite the traces of carnage around him could not help but have a reaction to all these.

“Hmm? There’s no blood here.” SPO4 observed as he entered the house. “The house seemed to not have been touched. There are even some unwashed plates in here.”

“Sir, we found some footprints outside!” an officer reported.

“Have someone escort this man back. The rest of you follow me outside!” SPO4 Lamitan barked out some commands.

After giving out his commands, SPO4 Lamitan and three others went outside through the door located in the kitchen to the back. There they saw two pairs of footprints, however, a couple of meters later, these two pairs became five, then it became ten pairs. As the policemen went farther from the house, more and more footprints became visible. However, what made them flabbergasted is the sheer number of footprints they found a hundred meters from Lumawig’s house. It was also at this moment they noticed that all the footprints were heading towards one direction – into the forest.

“How could these many footprints be here?!” One of the officers exclaimed, a clear look of shock on his face.

“Some of these footprints do not even look like they are from a human. Look, this one clearly looks like a human’s but is four to five times bigger, over there, it looks like that of a horse. Another looks like a baby’s feet, and there is also some bloody trail!” Another officer observed, and just like the rest of them, was also dumbfounded and was at a loss for sight.

“Report back to headquarters and tell them that we might have found some leads regarding this case, also ask them to send in more people. I will stay here for the meantime to lead the investigation.” Even though SPO4 Lamitan was just as shocked as his men, as their leader on this investigation, he needed to give them commands accordingly as the situation developed.

“Yes sir!” One of the officers acknowledged the order and immediately ran back to their vehicle near the radio back to their headquarters.

An hour went by and soon, sounds of engines were heard and two police vehicles arrived near Lumawig’s house, and twelve police officers armed with rifles and Kevlar vests went out of the vehicle. These officers are led by another senior officer – SPO4 Kathryn Bantugan, who is also dressed in the same fashion as her subordinates. After they alighted the vehicle, they directly went straight into Lumawig’s house, guided by one of SPO4 Lamitan’s men. However, they did not go inside the house but went around it to the back and proceeded to where SPO4 Lamitan was waiting.

“Reporting to SPO4 Lamitan, we are the additional personnel you have requested from the headquarters. We will be directly working under your command, sir!” SPO4 Bantugan declared in a deep voice as soon as she arrived in front of SPO4 Lamitan.

“Very well, let us get to work immediately. I am sure that all of you have been briefed about the situation here in Dumadalig. However, it seems that there is more to this massacre.” SPO4 announced to the whole group.

“Surely you have noticed the footprints on the ground as you came here, and if you look around you right now, there are more of these footprints and they are in all shapes and sizes. We speculate that these footprints are related to the massacre that happened here and in the barangay of New Iloilo. Hence, I asked the headquarters to send in more men to help in the investigation.” Continued SPO4 Lamitan.

“These footprints lead into the forest behind me, so we need to prepare for any eventuality. Be on your guard and report anything amiss! Move out!” After saying his piece, SPO4 Lamitan and his subordinates started to move out. He divided the group into four teams to spread out and cover a much wider area.

It was still early morning, and the forest had just become lively from the music of the birds singing. The four groups of police officers steadily made their way into the forest. They did not have a hard time following the tracks as many more signs appeared the deeper they went into the forest. Trampled plants, claw marks on tree trunks, fallen trees and many more showed these people where to go.

After almost three hours of careful walking through the forest, the group arrived at the small clearing. However, unlike before, there was no narra tree in sight; what they saw however, made the eyes of these police officers narrowed into slits and made them all turn pale.